Chapter 318

Chapter 318: Findings from the System

After the Hall of Myriad Spirits saw a huge Slaughter Formation appear above the Flying Cloud Sect, they sent help at once, and their people arrived very quickly.

Inside the Flying Cloud Sect the scene was a mess. The surviving disciples and elders trembled with fear as they looked at the bodies of their fellow sect members who had died to the formation. [We are lucky to be alive. We should have seen this coming.]

True Lord Gu Ci stepped forward and asked: “What happened? Who set such a Slaughter Formation over the Flying Cloud Sect?”

Shen Sang Ruo answered calmly: “It was Bai Mu Mu. We found a way to strip off the Malevolent Spirit attached to her and have already removed it.” She then lifted her hand and showed everyone the thing that called itself the System.

True Lord Gu Ci nodded and said: “So she really was a Malevolent Spirit,” then he glanced at Master Ling Xiao and Shen Dao Chen with clear meaning. [This is the person you swore to protect?]

Master Ling Xiao and Shen Dao Chen thought of how they had defended Bai Mu Mu at the Sect Grand Tournament and felt deep shame. [We were so foolish. Too foolish.]

Shen Sang Ruo went on: “By our plan, we had already killed Bai Mu Mu, but something unexpected happened after that.” She looked at the two men with a pointed gaze.

True Lord Gu Ci had seen how they once held Bai Mu Mu like a precious treasure, so he could guess what had happened.

Master Ling Xiao and Shen Dao Chen turned ashen. Their hearts felt as if stabbed by a knife. [And we handed over that knife ourselves.] Master Ling Xiao was the most upset, because he had wasted his own blood and life force to save Bai Mu Mu, only to be stabbed in the back.

Shen Sang Ruo explained in a steady voice: “That Slaughter Formation was set up ahead of time by Bai Mu Mu inside the Flying Cloud Sect, and she triggered it right before she died.”

She added: “Now she is dead. I scattered even her soul. What remains is this clump of power that calls itself a System. It is the true Malevolent Spirit.”

When he heard the words scattered soul, True Lord Gu Ci studied Shen Sang Ruo with surprise. Dispersing a soul is not something ordinary cultivators can do. At the last Sect Grand Tournament, she had shown nothing related to soul arts. That meant she had learned and grown after the tournament. He could clearly sense the strong Divine Soul Power that faintly flowed from her, and her cultivation had already neared the Mid Nascent Soul Stage. [How long has it been since the tournament? Her speed is frightening.] Her mind was upright as well. It was a pity she belonged to the Ninghua Sect. Otherwise, even True Lord Gu Ci wanted to recruit her to the Hall of Myriad Spirits. [Who would not want such a talent?]

Shen Sang Ruo said: “From the System I learned that Bai Mu Mu was not from our cultivation world. She came from another world.”

At this, everyone’s faces changed.

Shen Sang Ruo continued: “She came to complete strategy missions. If she finished them, she would get rewards and be allowed to leave this world.”

People remembered that Bai Mu Mu had mentioned strategy missions right before she died.

Feng He Yun lowered his voice and asked: “Was her mission to get us to like her?”

Master Ling Xiao, Shen Dao Chen, and Lu Shi Qing stared at Shen Sang Ruo, eager to hear the truth. [All the care we showed her, what did it mean?]

Shen Sang Ruo curved her lips slightly and said: “Yes. Besides you three, Wen Xuan and Luo Chu were also her targets.”

She added: “The System has something called a favorability score. Once your favorability toward her reached one hundred, she could kill you and seize your cultivation.”

Master Ling Xiao finally understood and thought: [So that is how she stole my cultivation.]

Immortal Maiden Azure Luan frowned and said: “That is no different from what a Heretic Cultivator does.”

Shen Sang Ruo nodded and said: “Exactly. Her true cultivation method was one used by Heretic Cultivators, the Proving the Dao through Slaughter on the Ruthless Path.”

When they heard the words Ruthless Path, the people of the Flying Cloud Sect lost all hope. All their years of sincere care meant nothing to Bai Mu Mu. [We were played for fools.] They grew even more angry as they remembered how they had turned against Shen Sang Ruo for Bai Mu Mu’s sake and done so many things that hurt her. All the past accusations had been Bai Mu Mu’s lies. Shen Sang Ruo had done nothing, yet they kept blaming her. They had no excuse left. [We were wrong. Completely wrong.] Guilt surged over them like a rising tide and pressed on their chests.

Shen Sang Ruo stated clearly: “If she had killed all six of you, she would have become immortal on the spot, ascended, and left this world.”

Shen Dao Chen beat his chest and cried out: “What sin did I commit to bring such a Malevolent Spirit back to the Flying Cloud Sect?” Master Ling Xiao said nothing. His blood and breath churned as if he had taken an inner wound. Of the six, the two of them had suffered the worst.

Lu Shi Qing said with disgust: “Good thing I disliked her early and woke up in time. After the Red Peak Fire Sea, when I thought she had killed Shen Sang Ruo, my attitude toward her changed completely. Now it seems she really did try to kill her.” Even though Bai Mu Mu was dead, Lu Shi Qing still burned with anger.

Feng He Yun muttered: “Exactly. We kept saying something was wrong with Bai Mu Mu, but Master and the Sect Master refused to listen. That is why this disaster happened.”

Shen Sang Ruo continued: “Besides that, she used the System to do many evil things.” She took out a list of task records she had found inside the System and passed copies around, making sure the Hall of Myriad Spirits members got them first. “Please look these over.”

The list showed, from the start, that she had wanted to use the Fire Phoenix to kill Shen Sang Ruo and also planned to kill Tian Hao Tian to seize his cultivation. Later, during a training trip, she killed more than a dozen Flying Cloud Sect disciples. In the Sect Grand Tournament’s Secret Realm, there was the matter with the Purplegold Serpent. She also wiped out Linglong Pavilion and tried to harm Immortal Maiden Azure Luan in secret. There were other items too, all written clearly on the list. The crimes were shocking.

Shen Dao Chen forced out a question through clenched teeth: “What? Those disciples were killed by her too?” He had trusted her so much that he made excuses for the deaths of those disciples and even comforted her, afraid she would blame herself. He had praised her talent, not knowing those gifts came from the System. In the end, those disciples had died by her hand. [I was blind. Utterly blind.]

Shen Sang Ruo concluded: “The System’s origin is unknown. It holds the Proving the Dao through Slaughter method that Heretic Cultivators use, and it can command Devil Qi. It is very likely tied to Heretic Cultivators or Devil Cultivators. A large part of its contents is tightly protected. With my current strength, I cannot view those parts.” She added, [Those are its secret files,] and then said aloud: “So I want to hand the System over to the Hall of Myriad Spirits for safekeeping. Maybe you can find more information.”